Ulcisia Castra
About
Built in the first years of the 2nd century, this 134 by 205 meter camp on the Danube Bend housed up to 1,000 soldiers behind double moats and square towers. Its name is thought to mean 'wolf camp.' The fully excavated principia and stone finds are now displayed in Szentendre's Ferenczy Károly Museum. Emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla both later passed through the post on Danube campaigns.
What happened here
Five hundred men, sometimes a thousand, recruited from a province rather than from citizens, and often stationed a long way from where they were raised. Cavalry units get a bigger fort and far more stabling; the smell tells you which kind you are in before the plan does. The layout copies a legionary fortress at a quarter of the size — headquarters, commander's house, granaries, barracks, a bath house usually built outside the walls because of the fire risk. Duties are patrolling, escorting, customs, and policing rather than pitched battle. After twenty-five years a man is discharged with citizenship for himself and his children, recorded on a bronze diploma he keeps for life. A village grows outside the gate within a decade.
Sources
Nearby
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